Engayging Life

A couple of weeks back, over drinks with Joe and me, my best friend Craigie announced that he’s going to leave India and go back to the US. I wasn’t really able to sink the news in, or to have realistic estimation of how much this is going to affect my life.

Quite honestly, I still haven’t really come to terms with it. But I guess, with the abominable visa situations between the two countries, there was no other option for him. I wish him the best of luck with his life and in his search for love (which, I think he might have found just before he left India).

Tonight, he left India. In the memory of the fantastic times that I have spent with him over the years, here’s a beautiful picture of him that recently came up on Facebook. Craigie – I love you! And I will miss you!

So, we sink right in to each other, literally. No major issues apart from the fact that I’m rather overwhelmed by the kindness and affection, which I have longed for so long. I had taken an off on Friday to make this a three-day weekend.

So, we do South Mumbai Friday, visiting all the usual destinations and settling for a late lunch at Léopold's. I was amazed to know that Joe wasn’t aware of the terror attacks on the city three years back. I tried to give him some background as to why the Indian public might not really dig the idea of a white person photographing their city (thanks to David Headley and Slumdog Millionaire). Then, we met my best friend Craigie and had a fun night out at a bar, where as usual, Craigie made the waiters blush with his antics. We also learned how Chicken Lollipops are made.

On Saturday, we do the essential American grocery shopping at Hypercity in the morning, again with the ever resourceful Craigie, settle to stay in for the rest of the afternoon, and go out for a romantic candle-lit dinner in the evening, where Joe tastes authentic Indian cuisine for the first time. Not bad, I thought. I realize that he’s not the kind to like extremely spicy/hot food.

On Sunday, it was newspapers + coffee + breakfast in the morning, followed by Joe’s first experience of watching a cricket match – the India v WI ODI. It went rather well, I thought. Joe showed some interest in understanding cricket, but like a typical American, was clueless about it in the first place. The most memorable part of the day was smoked cheese over crackers along with beer.

By the way, Joe is a fantastic cook and he loves cooking for me. He’s not as much of a drinker as I am but joins in. He also doesn’t hate cricket and loves hanging out. Things look good so far.

One of my best friends – let me rephrase that – my best friend in Mumbai - has this hilarious idea of a YouTube show centered around a character called ‘Bobby, the Beautiful.’ During our hangout in the last few weeks, he’s been telling me a lot about his ideas for the show. I am really excited about this.

I can’t tell you any more details other than the fact that show, if and when it takes off, will be hilarious. If you know who I’m talking about, please encourage him to get started!

The other evening with my friend and colleague convinced me that it is time for me to break my shackles and try and reenter socializing actively. Usually, I would sit on such a thought. This time, I didn’t. I invited my friend and fellow blogger Craig, over for an evening in.

The last time we did it, Craigie had brought some CDs over and we had gotten drunk over some good music that he liked. That was two years back. I don’t know what we’ll do, but I was sort of more confident than I was last time. I had six pints of beer and I didn’t know if we would be eating.

I met Craigie near the supermarket near my apartment. We spent some time going over the beer section at the wine shop attached to the supermarket. We didn’t pick up anything from there. Instead, we went over to the food section, I picked up some roast chicken for dinner.

Later, at my apartment, we had a fantastic time with conversations, laughter, and stories over beer. We had to order three more large bottles of beer to last the night. Some six hours of conversation! Excellent.! I’m back on the social map again.

I have already put out an ad on FaceBook for auditioning friends for conversation over drinks. I have already received some replies. Maybe, I’ll find more friends. :)

Since yesterday didn’t work out, I decided that that was it. I need to break out of my social celibacy. Plus, a date - A ‘dinner/conversation date which would go on to the party and then we would see from there’ date. It was a semi-blind date – a friend of a dear friend of mine – the same guy that hadn’t got my jokes. I was apprehensive to say the least.

So, I went and met this guy and we had dinner over whiskey/vodka. The conversation was not the most brilliant and it was more one-sided than you expect a date to ideally be. Throw in some weird concepts and ideologies, it wasn’t far too entertaining or interesting.

From there, we went on to the party, where I met my dear friend, who gave me some respite. We went on to wine and beer at the party, but the conversation never took off. However, I got to know three interesting facts during the night: 1, Picasso painted realism fantastically :-O; 2, Lady Gaga played good piano; and 3, Not Just Jazz By the Bay used to a gay cruising place.

What this means is that I just have one guy on the radar. The funny guy!

Working half-day – slogging, quite literally – before heading down town for the pride march and the accompanying festivities isn’t the best idea. But I had to do it because it fell on a working Saturday and I had to at least work half-day. I reached just in time to catch Celina Jaitley and Ashok Row Kavi address the crowd. No sooner as she left the stage, the organizational committee wanted me to speak on the megaphone, which was a bit crazy I thought. I managed to utter a few sentences before getting off the podium and joining the pride march.

The march itself was pretty amazing. It was very strongly populated. But what made the afternoon/evening/night most memorable was the company. The company of a man who claims that I had written something bad about him on this very blog after our first date about 2 years back. I’m talking about Craigie. He is the funniest, sarciest bitch that I know and I love him. He kept me company through the march, and then at the post-march party at Café Ideal, then at a friend’s apartment/terrace, and then finally at the post-pride march GB party.

We laughed so much that I really can’t remember the time when I had laughed so much. Maybe back in 2007/2008 when Vinokur was at his best! That’s how funny he was! Americans are funny, but Craigie is special and takes the humor to another level. We happened to have the company of one a DDG, handsome German actor H. who was with us most throughout the evening. We had a blast! This is how partying should be. Fun, laughter, merriment!

Of course, I had my share of luck with a bunch of older men at the GB party, a couple of whom I was forward enough to make out with. But alas, all of them are married and have families and are closeted. Well, I did meet a single Kiwi guy – my second Kiwi guy in a week’s time – who might be an interesting person to hang with. But Craigie and H. made 2011 pride really special!